JXJNE. 99 



In some parts where this plant is common it is 

 used for brooms, and in the Isle of Ely it is 

 so very abundant, that it is burned instead of 

 common fagots. 



The sweet gale is generally considered much 

 like the myrtle in appearance ; but the lighter 

 green of its leaves, and the more crowded 

 growth of the stem, lessen the resemblance. 

 Like that plant, it is a small shrub. It is 

 plentiful in Devonshire, and is commonly called 

 the Devonshire myrtle ; it grows in quan- 

 tities on the dreary Dartmoor. When the 

 sweet gale is boiled, a kind of wax, like bees' 

 wax, rises to the surface of the water, and may 

 be collected in large pieces. Tapers are some- 

 times made of this wax, and are so fragrant 

 while burning, that they are very agreeable 

 and salutary in a sick room. These candles 

 are so much used in Prussia, that they are 

 burned constantly in the royal household. The 

 berry is about the size of a pea, and has, both 

 when fresh and dried, a most grateful perfume. 



JUNE. 



" For who would sing the flowers of June, 

 Though from grey morn to blazing noon, 

 From blazing noon to dewy eve 

 Tlie chaplet of liis song lie weave, 

 AVouUl lind his summer daylight fail, 

 And leave hah" told the pleasing tale." 



Tiie ]n-escnt month has a diiferent character 

 from that of the last. The flowers are even 

 more numerous, the leaves thicker, the grass 

 and foliage of a deeper green. Spring has quite 

 yielded to summer. Nature, too, wears a 



